Boone and Stuart start out on a Hunt--Captured by Indians
and Disarmed--Stuart's Despair and Boone's Hope--A Week's
Captivity--The Eventful Night.
On the morning of December 22, 1769, Daniel Boone and his friend John
Stuart left camp, and started out on a hunt.
It was the shortest day in the year, so it is to be supposed that they
were desirous of improving it to the utmost, although they had become
so accustomed to such excursions, that there was no special expectation
excited by their venturing forth together for a hunt through the woods.
Experienced as they were in woodcraft, they saw nothing to cause the
slightest misgivings. Their keen eyes, as they roamed around the
horizon, detected no faint wreath of smoke stealing upward through
the tree-tops, telling where the camp of the treacherous Shawanoe was
kindled; the listening ear detected no skillfully disguised bird-call
trembling on the crisp air to warn them of the wily red-man skulking
through the cane, and waiting until they should come within reach of
their bow or rifle.
After leaving camp, the friends followed one of the numerous "buffalo
paths" through the cane, and in a few minutes were out of sight of
their comrades left behind. The air was keen and invigorating, and
they traveled carelessly along, admiring the splendid growth of the
timber and cane, showing what an unsurpassed soil awaited the pioneers
who should settle in these valleys, and turn up the sod for the seed of
the harvest.
Where the game was so plentiful, there was no likelihood of the hunters
suffering from lack of food. The buffaloes were so numerous that they
were able to approach the droves close enough to reach them with the
toss of a stone.
Stuart and Boone enjoyed themselves, as they had done on many a day
before, until the declining sun warned them that it was time to turn
their faces toward camp, if they expected to spend the night with their
friends in the rude but comfortable cabin.
They did so, and the sun had not yet gone down behind the line of
western forest, when they reached a small hill near the Kentucky River,
and began leisurely moving to the top.
It was at this juncture, that a party of Indians suddenly sprang up
from the canebrake and rushed upon them with such fierceness that
escape was out of the question. It was not often that Daniel Boone was
caught at disadvantage, but in this instance he was totally outwitted,
and it looked for the moment as if he and his companion had walked
directly into a trap set for them.
The pioneers were too prudent to attempt anything in the nature of
resistance when the result could but be their almost instant death,
for the Indians outnumbered them five to one, were fleet as deer, and
understood all the turnings and windings of the forest. Accordingly,
Boone and Stuart quietly surrendered, hoping for the best, but
expecting the worst.
As might be supposed, the Indians disarmed the hunters, and made them
prisoners at once. Stuart was terribly alarmed, for he could not see
the slightest ground for hope, but Boone, who possessed a most equable
temperament, told him to keep up heart.
"As they haven't killed us," said the pioneer, "it shows they intend to
spare us for a time, at least."
"Only to torture us to death hereafter," thought his terrified
companion.
"I don't doubt that such are their intentions, but between now and the
time, we may find our chance. Be obedient and watchful--doing nothing
to provoke them, but be ready when the right minute comes."
This was good advice, and Stuart was sensible enough to follow it in
spirit and letter.
It might have been expected that if a couple of hunters intended to
strike a blow for liberty, they would do so pretty soon after their
capture--that is, as soon as the darkness of night was in their
favor--but it was only characteristic of Boone that a full week passed
before he made the first attempt to escape.
During those seven days they could not fail to catch glimpses, as it
were, of freedom, and to be tempted to make a desperate dash, for many
a time it is the very boldness of such efforts that succeeds.
But Boone never lost his prudence of mind, which enabled him to abide
his time. Stuart, too, acted as he suggested, and they very effectually
concealed their eagerness to escape.
However, it was not to be expected that the Indians would be careless
enough to allow them to get away, and they maintained a most vigilant
watch upon them at all hours of the day and night. When tramping
through the wilderness or in camp, when hunting, or sitting around the
smoking logs, the suspicious red-men were near them. When the hour
came to sleep, the prisoners were placed so as to be surrounded, while
a strong and vigilant guard was appointed to watch over them until
daylight.
Boone and Stuart affected quite successfully an indifference to their
situation, and, inasmuch as they had not sought to take advantage of
what might have been intended as traps in the way of opportunities to
get away, it was only natural for the captors to conclude that the
white men were willing to spend an indefinite time with them.
What the ultimate intentions of these Indians were, can only be
conjectured, for they were a long distance from their lodges, but those
who ventured upon hunting excursions within the Dark and Bloody Ground
were of the fiercest nature, and as merciless as Bengal tigers, as they
proved in many a desperate encounter with the settlers; and it is no
more than reasonable to suppose that they meant in the end to burn them
at the stake, while they danced about the scene with fiendish glee,
just as they did a few years later with Colonel Crawford and other
prisoners who fell into their hands.
At last the week ended, and at the close of the seventh day, the
Indians encamped in a thick canebrake. They had been hunting since
morning, and no opportunity presented that satisfied Boone, but he
thought the time was close at hand when their fate was to be decided.
The long-continued indifference as shown by him and his companion had
produced its natural effect upon the Indians, who showed less vigilance
than at first.
But they knew better than to invite anything like that which was really
contemplated, and, when the night was advanced, the majority of the
warriors stretched out upon the ground in their blankets, with their
feet toward the fire.
It had been a severe day with all of them, and the watchful Boone
noticed that the guard appointed over him and his companion were drowsy
and inattentive, while maintaining a semblance of performing their duty.
"It must be done to-night," was the conclusion of the pioneer, who was
sure the signs were not likely to be more propitious.
He lay down and pretended slumber, but did not sleep a wink: his
thoughts were fixed too intently upon the all-important step he had
resolved must be taken then or never, and he lay thus, stretched out
at full length before the hostile camp-fire, patiently awaiting the
critical moment.